Overview

Best of the Bayou Blues

Tab Benoit's funky, ragged blend of Louisiana swamp blues and East Texas guitar, with hints of funk, soul, and country thrown in to give the gumbo just the right spice, has served him well since he burst on the scene in the early '90s. Since Benoit hasn't essentially changed his sound since, this collection of sides made up largely from his early releases for Houston-based Justice Records (all of Benoit's Justice albums have been reissued by Vanguard Records in recent years) makes an ideal introduction to what this guy is all about, and although Best of the Bayou Blues covers a five-year span from 1992 to 1997, the tracks all fall together in a completely coherent sequence. Opening with the Benoit original "Voodoo on the Bayou" from 1992's Nice & Warm and running through several originals and some interesting covers (including country-funk takes on Hank Williams' "Jambalaya" and Willie Nelson's "Rainy Day Blues"), this set spotlights Benoit's southern Louisiana take on contemporary blues. He also delivers a stomping version of Willie Dixon's classic "The Seventh Son" and turns zydeco for a fiery live take of Clifton Chenier's "Hot Tamale Baby." Initially one is drawn to Benoit's laser-guided guitar tone, but he is also a fine and soulful singer, and there is more than a little country in his approach as well. What makes him stand out in the crowded field of contemporary blues guitar wizards is the fact that he is fully grounded in the Louisiana bayou region, and he embraces local musical traditions while also bringing a distinctly modern vision to what he does. Benoit knows what he wants to do, he knows where to draw inspiration, and with his strong guitar playing and warm, flexible vocals, he knows how to make it happen.

Though purists may quibble about her interpretations of classic material, just about everyone acknowledges that
Marcia Ball is one fine songwriter. Blue House contains eight gems of swamp boogie fusion delivered in Ball's supple, slinky voice. Listen to The Facts ...

Jimmy Rogers was very much a musician's musician -- the kind of guitarist that earned
accolades from contemporaries and successors alike -- yet one who never wins a wide, mainstream audience. Blues Blues Blues was designed as the album that ...

The 1958 masterwork album of Champion Jack Dupree's long and prolific career. Cut in New
York (in stereo!) with a blasting band that included saxist {|Pete Brown|} and guitarist {|Larry Dale|}, the {|Jerry Wexler|}-produced Atlantic collection provides eloquent testimony to ...

Here's the B. B. King who moved mountains. After too many celeb-studded, laconic outings, this
1998 release is filled with his trademark, almost painfully eloquent guitar work on a gimmick-free selection of blues and ballads. His singing is on the ...

After the full-powered displays on recordings like the recent Sweet Tea and Heavy Love, Buddy
Guy has returned to the fold with the acoustic-based Blues Singer, the title being a reference to the similarly unplugged 1963 Muddy Waters release Folk ...

Taj Mahal has always been a more inclusive, eclectic musician than even some admirers understand;
his work was never simply or totally blues, even though that strain was at the center and seldom far from anything he performed either. That's ...

{|Barri's|} slightly antiseptic production style and {|Michael Omartian's|} arrangements weren't the equivalent of {|Joe Scott's|}
immaculate collabrations with {|Bland|}, but this 1974 album's Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City and a meaty I Wouldn't Treat a Dog ...

The raw immediacy and tight instrumental attack of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's self-titled debut
album were startling and impressive in 1965, but the following year, the group significantly upped the ante with its second LP, East-West. The debut showed ...